Nerds That Geek Movie Review: ‘Armageddon’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

There was a time where major motion picture studios, were filled to the brim with a fierce competitive nature. Granted, there are still echoes of that today, but they handle it quite differently now, then they did back in the day. For years ago, when a studio got wind of another studio’s plans to release something special to the masses, they went all out in making sure to offer up a competing project that would get them a piece of the action. Which is why we’d see a surge of action movies that seemed quite familiar, or romantic comedies that echoed one another as well. Because there was no way in hell that any particular studio was going to be left out of a particular storytelling craze and for proof that this back and forth between studios existed, well then let us ponder upon the year 1998.

For in May of that year, Paramount Pictures released Deep Impact, a motion picture that revolved around mankind facing an extinction level event when a rogue comet was discovered to be on a collision course with planet Earth. Which is a pretty epic plot in its own right, and it made for a solid movie that our associate Scotty reviewed the other day. But not to be outdone by Paramount, Buena Vista Pictures (a.k.a. Disney) took the time to craft their own disaster epic involving an unexpected visitor from space. One that was able to come out shortly after Paramount’s offering and well, at first glance Armageddon does indeed share a lot of similarities with the ‘other’ space disaster epic from the summer of ’98.

Because someone stumbles upon an unexpected light in the sky and that light turns out to be a space-borne object that is going to slam into Earth and end all life on the planet. Which in turn prompts the United States and Russia to work together to blast that hunk of space rock to a billion bits in order to save all of mankind. And while that makes it seem as though Buena Vista basically cut and pasted the plots, that’s really where the similarities between these two motion pictures end. For while Deep Impact went the more dramatic and cerebral route in telling its particular tale, Armageddon felt the need to kick this story into overdrive by offering up a lot more action and adventure and well, explosions.

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In fact, it only takes about five minutes for this movie to establish its explosive prowess since we see a space shuttle and most of New York City burn thanks to some hunks of the killer asteroid arriving at Earth early and well, the film really doesn’t let up from there. Because there’s danger and fire to be found at the space station that our heroes dock at, there’s problems to be found when they land on the asteroid and let’s be honest, the third act of this movie is designed to be nothing more than a nightmarish cornucopia of icy rock and dangerous situations. Which honestly isn’t a bad thing by any means. Because it works, and it immediately raises the stakes and sucks the audience into a dynamic story that leaves one wondering how the crews of Independence and Freedom are going to save the day. 
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But while it sounds as though this movie is nothing but explosions and one liners, there actually is some heart to be found in the film. Granted, there’s not much, because this movie really is 90% explosions and one liners and the romantic segment between Grace and A.J. is pretty weak sauce in its own right, but there are some special moments to be found in here. Because from time to time director Michael Bay uses a sense of Americana to remind us of what space travel has accomplished for us, specifically that it has given us hope in ways we never thought possible, and there really is something quite special about seeing a group of everyday folks put their lives on the line to save billions of innocent lives. 

However, make no mistake about it, this is a Michael Bay film, and you know what that entails and in the end that makes this movie tough to compare to its counterpart. Simply because they really are dynamic and special in their own right since one is Fruity Pebbles and one is the knockoff with extra freakin’ sugar. But all cracks aside, this really is a fun motion picture. Because it really does elicit a sense of adventure and awe, and the actions sequences do take your breath away for certain and in all honesty, if you’re not wiping a single tear off your cheek at the end of this movie; who hurt you? But either way, this is just a great popcorn flick, one that you need to see if you haven’t yet, simply because… they don’t make them quite like this anymore. Especially since the back and forth between studios seems to have faded away with the advent of streaming.

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